Well, my campaign's kaput! {update: not so kaput anymore}

[Snoweel]

Firstly, you're right - your game should have ended when the PCs killed Leska.

Secondly, when a game does end, jump the campaign timeline forward 10 (or 20 or 40 or 100 or 500 or whatever) years. You can more or less use the same maps, certain major NPCs will still be around, hell, the old PCs might be major NPCs now. (Don't let too many of the players make up new PCs who are children of their old PCs - it gets stale pretty quick). And you'll likely have a new Hitler to face, cities will be familiar yet satisfyingly different and the players will feel a connection to the history of the setting.

Lastly, if the PCs aren't united in any particular goal, it's because you haven't revealed your campaign's version of the Great Tribulation (or whatever) to them. Have SOMETHING BIG going on in your world. Give your PCs the opportunity to be involved, and if they don't take the bait, let them hear about how heinous this new threat is, and how other brave souls (NPCs) are making names for themselves and earning importance in the gameworld. That should get them emotionally invested (and united) in the campaign - the idea that the rest of the world doesn't know the PCs are "supposed to be the heroes in the story".

And it doesn't need to be said, but I'm sure if I don't second-guess it here, somebody else will pipe up - Don't let NPCs overshadow the PCs in their adventures but if the PCs are more interested in gaining personal power at the expense of each other and the rest of the gameworld, than in interacting with the setting, then let NPCs steal the limelight, as long as it's only in the background of the campaign.

 

[SkidAce]

IMO...."adventures" end, "campaigns" don't.

I kinda agree with what Snoweel just said. Advance the campaign timeline.

But if you don't do that...just let the characters lead you in the right direction. My campaigns always ended when I had a military move away from the players, with one exception. The exception was when one player reached enlightenment and transcended into spirit form. All the players mentioned that this was a natural ending point and expressed a desire to try new character concepts. So they started over at 1st level in a different kingdom of the same world, same timeline etc.

After about a year, they ran into an order of LG monks in a chance encounter that were trying to debunk this transcendent myth that was being spread about.
They agreed with the monks that it had to be a myth and went on their way.

 

[AlphaOmega]

you obviously haven't played long enough.


D&D jumped the shark with Supplement I Greyhawk.


but some of us still continued with the show despite the leap.

diaglo, how many of your 3,672 posts would you say have basically said you've played since the beginning and the rest of us are nothing more than infidels for playing versions other than the orginal???

50%???
75%???
99.9999999%???

 

[evileeyore]

/threadjack
Personally I think D&D jumped the shark when Arneson left.

But we still hang in there.

And don't give me that look, there have been a lot of good things over the years. Spelljammer, Skills and Powers, Complete Book of the Drow, and Dragonlance to name a few...
/threadjack


Rangerw, definitely have a talk with the players as a whole. Don't name names, and keep it positive, but let them know you feel a tad frustrated about the lack of focus. They might be willing to refocus after a few random sessions.

TTFN--EvilE

 

[LGodamus]

Ranger, the dm has to like the game for anyone else to have fun...this will be the most important part in recovering your campaign. If nothing can make you enjoy this game since the plot is dead , you should move on. OR, you can can realize that while the game is creative story telling , it is also a charcter building excercise and a social event held for fun. You dont have to have some huge overarching story line in the background for there to be fun. PCs will often times provide their own story and since there are more of them than you they often come up with a better story anyway. basically all I am trying to say is this, If you can continue to DM the game with an open mind your game will recover,but if not the game wont and you will need a change.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

diaglo, how many of your 3,672 posts would you say have basically said you've played since the beginning and the rest of us are nothing more than infidels for playing versions other than the orginal???

50%???
75%???
99.9999999%???

Hey, at least he's consistent.

 

[Dirigible]

Admittedly, part of it was that I was frikkin' sick with a sore throat only being compounded by talking for six hours (and being single on Valentine's Day despite having a crush on one of the players in my game; but that's another thread).

[wise]Emotion leads to attatchment... attatchment interferes with dice chucking.[/wise]

Maybe it's because I tend to GM solo, thus minimising the risk of player flight, but all the best campaign I've been in have been reached the end of one arc and continued on to another.

At the risk of getting all Dr Phil, it's proabably best is you have a chat with your players and decide what you will all enjoy, whether that be a retracking of this campaign (is it the air- and storm-based one that we've heard scraps about?), continuation of the status quo, or a new campaign.

 

[Particle_Man]

I'd say shake things up with something HUGE! So huge that the players have to work together or die.

An extraplanar invasion by some nasties that seed the world with a plague resistant to remove disease spells would be a good start.
It even fits with your apocalytic theme, but might give the players a chance to win if they can pull it off. They might even have to make common cause with some former enemies.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[RangerWickett]

It's interesting to see the huge swings in gaming styles here. After the game, my roommate talked with me until 7 in the morning, giving me advice like, "Okay, so the next time they teleport, this dude brings them to him, and he's like 'They call me the first, but I don't know why.' He's just this dude sitting on a beach, sipping his orc margarita, and he's breaks it down for the party. He's like, 'There are four challenges that must be overcome: Shaaladel, Pilus, the Mother of Dreams, and the Dragon. But I'm not so sure you can handle the Dragon.' Oh yeah man, that'd be cool."

Whereas I'm like, "Um, Dave, isn't that kinda out of left field? I'm not really in the mood for an 11th hour intervention by a higher power."

Anyway, I do have major threats going around, but apparently I messed with the group's head a bit. See, there's this megalomaniacal air mage lich named Pilus, and he has a gigantic airship that can carry an army. Leska was the only thing keeping him from making a grab for power, so now he's blowing things to hell. He's obviously a bad guy in my mind, but a few times in the past, the party met up with Pilus, and because they really really weren't a threat to him then, he let them go despite them causing him trouble. He's a very easy-going guy, and a few people in the party wonder if maybe they could just join forces with him.

Then there's Shaaladel, an Elvish emperor whom several players hate from a previous game (and whom their characters have good reason to distrust). He'd make a great villain, except for the fact that way back over a year ago, the group met up with his daughter, and one player fell for her. So we have an inter-party conflict on several levels. Shaaladel is offering to help them destroy Pilus's airship and save some of the party's friends, but in order to do that, they're going to have to help Shaaladel recover an artifact that he could use to be even more powerful, plus the fact that one party member already tried to assassinate him, another hates him for killing her family a hundred and fifty years ago, and even his own daughter is suspicious of him now.

So there's still lots of trouble ahead. It's just that, for a little while, the group was mired with a lot of people trying to take advantage of them, and little internal cohesion. I might have abandoned it, except now several players have expressed to me that they're going to try to drive the group to work together more. I didn't feel like leading them by the nose and beating them over the head with the 'Look, a villain!' stick, and it's paying off.

So the game will be fine. I just need to remember next time that 21st level assassin/shadowdancers really really need rings of freedom of movement.

 

[Dirigible]

Glad to hear it worked out. It brings a tear to my lambent red little piggy eyes, it really does.